Potato cutter and planter



May* 17 1927 P. lsRAlsLsoN POTATO CUTTER AND FLAHTERV Filed June 23. 1923 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 17 1927.`

1 1,628,779 P. |sRAl-:LsoN

POTATO CUTTER AND PLANTER Filed June 23. '192s 4 sheets-sheet 2 May' 17 1927.

4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 23. 1923 y 1,628 719 M 17 1927' P. ISRAELsoN POTATO CUTTER AND: PLANTER Filed Juna 2a. `192s 4 sheets-sheet 4 sageway 43 in the back wall thereof, and which passageway is of such length so that one of the scoops 35 always closes the same so as to prevent the escape ot' potatoes in the hopper therefrom. c

To drive the elevator 34 there is secure to the a-Xle 16 a large gear 44 over which and an aligned relatively small sprocket wheel 45 runs a sprocket chain 46. The sprocket wheel 45 is secured to a short idle shaft 47 journaled in a bearing on one of the uprights of a transverse yoke-like supplemental frame 48 rigidly secured to the Y frame Vbetween the two rock shafts 19 and 20. Also mounted on the shaft 47, outward of the sprocket wheel 45, is a. rela tively small sprocket wheel 49 rigidly secured to the sprocket wheel `tor rotation therewith. A sprocket chain 5() runs over the sprocket wheel 49, and a relatively large sprocket wheel 51 on the shaft 41, and which sprocket; wheel completes lthe driving connections yfrom the traction wheels to the elevator 34py The sprocket wheel 51 is se,- cured by a set screw 52 to the shaft 41 for circumferential adjustment thereon, and which adjustment permits the elevator 34 to bev advanced or retarded for a purpose that will presently appear. Y

To agitate the potatoes a; in the hopper 33 and thereby always insure a constant supply to the scoops 35 during their travel through the hopper 33, I provide a pair of intermediately pivoted agitating bars 53 mounted in longitudinal slots 54 formed in vthe diverging sides of the hopper 33, one

on each sideV of the bottom thereof, Vas best shown in Fig. 3.

' The upper edges of the agitating bars 53 are rbeveled to correspond to the sides of the hopper 33 and form sections thereof. The agitating bars 53 are rocked on their pivotal connections, during the travel of the machine, by a pair ofeccentrics 55 connected thereto 'by a pair of connecting rods 56. Said eccentrics are secured to the axle 16, and said connecting rods have one of their ends pivoted to the forward ends of the agitating bars 53, and their other ends are connected to the eccentrics 55 by eccentric straps 57 comprising upper and lower plates connected'by fourbolts.

The potatoes picked up by the scoops 35 are successively delivered into the top of an openl bottom cylindrical casing 58k through a downwardly inclined delivery spout 59. The casing 58 is supported by and within the supplemental frame 48, and has in its lower end portion four radial partitions 60 which divide said casing into four segmental compartments. These partitions 60 are wedge-shaped in vertical section and each thereof is provided with a plurality of air holes 61. Rigidly secured to the'upper edges of the partitions 60 is a potato cutter comprising radial knives 62 which form ex tensions of said partitions and have oblique cutting edges which diverge from the axis of the casing 58 to the side walls thereof.

Converging centering plates 63 are hinged at 64 to the casing 58 at` the upper ends of the cutters 62 and are yieldingly held by springs 65 at substantially the cutting edges of said knives. Stops 66 on the lower or free ends of the centering plates 63 engage the knives 62 and limit the swinging movement of said centering plates under the action ot' the springs 65 and normally hold said centering plates, as previously stated. As the potatoes enter the casing 58 from the discharge spout 59, the saine are ceutered by the plates 63 on the cutting edges of the knives 62.

To force the potatoes onto the cutting edges of the knives 62 and thereby quarter the same, I provide a reciprocating plunger 67 which is square in cross-section and mounted in a corresl'n'mdingly formed guide 68 in the top of the casing 58 above the discharge spout 59. This plunger 67 is carried by a crosshead 69 mounted to slide on guides 70 on the supplemental frame 48. To raise and lower the crosshead 69 and thereby reciprocate the plunger 67, said crosshead is provided with a depending link 71 eccentrically pivoted to a bevel goal.' 72 on the shaft 47. The lower cud et the plunger 67 is bifurcated at 73 to atl'ord clearance for the knives 62 duringl its extreme lowerlnost travel which is such as to force the potatoes past the knives 62 and thereby completely sever the same.

The spacing of the scoops 35 is such that when the plunger is down and forcing a potato onto the knives 62, a second potato is discharged into the discharge lspout 59 and held, as indicated by broken lines in Fig. 8, by the projected plunger 67, until said plunger is again raised to release the second potato and allow the same to drop onto the knives 62 and be positioned by the centering plates 63. The open bottoms et the compartments in the casing 58 are normally closed b the web of a large bevel gear 74 which mes les with the gear 72 and is provided with a discharge opening` which is successively brought into registration with the several compartments during the rotation of the gear 72 to release the quartered potatoes therein. This gear 74 is journaled on a part carried by the supplemental frame 48. As the quartered potatoes successively drop through the opening 75 in the gear 74, the same are guided by a spout 76'between the shoes of the furrow opener and into the fui-rows, as best shown in Fig. 2.

The operation of the above described potato cutter and planter may be briefly stated as follows:

The agitated potatoes in the hopper 33 lUfi lltl

`soon as said plunger is released.

are carried upward by the elevator' 34 and delivered one at a time into the discharge bottom 59 by the scoo s 35. The spacing of the scoops 35 is suc that while one potato is being cut, a second pot-ato is delivered into the discharge spout 59 and held by the projected plunger 67 ready to be released as The time at. which potatoes may be discharged into the spout 59 by the scoops 35 in respect to the reciprocations of the plunger 67 may be varied by turning the sprocket wheel 5l on the shaft 4l to either advance or retard the elevator. This adjustment 'is highly iinportant for the reason that certain daft animals walk faster than others.

During the cutting of the potatoes7 under the action of the plunger (37, the saine are liable to stick to the sides ot the partition, due to the cutting action and the sap therein, and thereby intercept the feeding action of the quartered potatoes to the open furrow. The wedge-acting partitions (it) and the air holes 61 therein overcome this tendency ot the cut potatoes to stick to said partitions and canse the saine to instantly drop, when eut, on the rotating gear (iet and be scraped therefrom by said partitions into the discharge opening 75 as the saine is successively brought into registration with the severa] compartments.

The centering plates 63 will be opened up by the pressure of the potatoes thereon when forced onto the knives 62 by the plunger G7 but will immediately assume their normal position under the action ot the `springs 65, as soon as the plunger 6T `is retracted, to center the next dropped potato.

The distance between the dropped `potato quarters may be varied, at will. by substitilting different sized gears for the gears and 49`to change the speed of the gear 74, the reciprocations of the plunger (i7, and the travel of the elevator 34.

What I claim is:

1. A potato cutter comprising an upri ljht fixed casing having an open bottoni anc a` plurality of radial partitions dividing said casingr into circuniterentially spaced eo1n partments, a plurality of knives 'torniiing top extensions on said partitions7 the inner edges of said knives beine sharp and in upwardly diverging relation in respect to the axis of the casing, V-shaped depending centering plates having their tops hinged at the top of the casing for horizontal swinging movenient between the knives,V yielding means normally holding the centering plates pressed inward in downwardly converging relation normally closing said compartments, said Iasing having a contracted top extension opening into the casing inward oit the hinged upper ends olf the centering plates, a spout arranged to deliver potatoes through the side ot' the -asing extension onto the centeringr plates, a reciprocating plunger fworking in a` passageway in the top ot the casing extension and held thereby against rotation and axially aligned with the casing for iorcing a potato held by the centering plates onto the knives, and a rotatable bottoni nicniber 'tor the casing having an escape passageway arranged to be successively brought into registration with the open bottoms of the con'lpartments.

The structure defined in claim l in. which said partitions are Awedge-shaped in vertical section and have a multiplicity of air holes for the release of the cut potatoes at the limit of the working stroke of the plunger.

In testimony whereotl I aiiix inv signature.` 

